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Loveland Ski Area set to open Thursday

Loveland Ski Area announced it will open for the 2015-16 ski season on Thursday.

“The warm fall weather delayed the start of snowmaking this year, but Mother Nature finally came through,” said Rob Goodell, director of business operations. “A winter storm delivered 17.5 inches of natural snow last week and brought the cold temperatures our snowmakers had been waiting for. They have done an incredible job getting the mountain ready for the first skiers and riders of the season.”

Lift 1 will run from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Thursday and will provide skiers and riders with access to one top-to-bottom run covered from tree-to-tree with an 18 inch base. The trails Catwalk, Mambo and Home Run make up this opening day run, which is over a mile long and nearly 1,000 vertical feet.

“We will continue to make snow on the bottom portion of the mountain, but the coverage up top is outstanding,” Goodell added. “We have been waiting all summer for this moment and invite everyone to come up and help us kick off the ski season.”

Loveland Ski Area opened on Nov. 1 last season.

Loveland will be open seven days a week until closing day in early May. Lift operating hours are 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on weekdays and 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. on weekends and designated holidays. Early season lift tickets are $53 for adults and $25 for children ages 6-14.

Arapahoe Basin, which opened Oct. 17 last season, still had not set an opening day as of Tuesday morning, but A-Basin COO Alan Henceroth said his ski area is very close, especially with the stormy forecast for this week. He also offered kudos to Loveland for announcing its opening on Thursday.

“We have a few small whales and snow coverage all across the trail. Our forecast still looks great with, perhaps, sub-freezing temperatures into Thursday,,” Henceroth wrote on his blog Monday. “Keep your fingers crossed. We will have some good news on opening soon.”

Copper Mountain and Keystone are schedule to open Nov. 6. Vail is scheduled to open Friday, Nov. 20, and Beaver Creek will open on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

According to meteorologist Joel Gratz of Opensnow.com, another small storm will follow Monday’s blast of snow on Tuesday, and then yet another southern storm will head into Colorado for Halloween weekend.

The longer range forecast looks even more promising, Gratz said: “We should see another storm during the first few days of November, and then all indications point toward continuing chances for storms as we push toward Nov. 5-10.”